Kinetic Study of Removal of Cadmium by Coconut Copra Meal as Biosorbent Chi-Hao Hsiao#, Wen-Ta Chiu and Yuh-Shan Ho* Taipei Medical University - Wan-Fang Hospital Introduction A low-cost sorbent is defined as one which is abundant in nature, or is a by-product or waste material from another industry. These low-cost materials could be an alternative for the more costly processes. The potential of biological materials has been investigated as an alternative to treat low metal-bearing wastewaters. Copra meal produced in large amount has every little application apart from its use as animal feed due to its high protein and fibre content. In this work, the kinetics biosorption for the use of copra meal as biosorbent for cadmium ion removal from solution are investigated. In addition, pseudo-isotherms were also presented for the biosorption system. Materials and Methods Coconut was obtained from the open market in Benin City. A range of cadmium concentrations (10.5 – 201 mg/dm3) (adjusted to pH 6) were used and the flasks agitated for 100 min. A 2.0 g sample of copra meal was added to each 100 ml volume of cadmium solution and agitated at 150 rpm and temperature was set at 24C for all experiments. Samples (2.0 ml) were withdrawn at suitable time interval and the filtrate analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). Results Table 1. Isotherms and their linear forms Table 2. Parameters for the effect of initial cadmium concentration Table 3. Parameter on effect of temperature on cadmium adsorption at 201 mg/dm3 Figure 3. Effect of temperature on the sorption of cadmium ions onto copra meal Figure 1. Effect of initial concentration on the sorption of cadmium ions onto copra meal Conclusions The cadmium ions removal by coconut copra meal was a function of initial cadmium ion concentration and temperature. The sorption capacity of cadmium ions from solution increased with increasing initial cadmium concentration, and decreasing reaction temperature. The kinetics of cadmium ion sorption onto copra meal was based on the assumption of the pseudo-second-order explanation. The Redlich-Peterson and the Langmuir isotherms have higher coefficients of determination than that of Freundlich isotherm for the sorption of cadmium onto coconut copra meal. Langmuir is a special case of Redlich-Peterson isotherm when constant g was unity. Figure 2. Theoretical isotherms and experimental data